Has anyone tried FF12 yet? **SPOILERS**

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It just came out a couple of weeks ago here. I'm enjoying it. It's a bit different from the previous FF games. This one has a very political story line which makes it more interesting. They left out a lot of the cheesy stuff from some of the other recent FF titles, which is also a bonus. Although cheese is great on spagetti and tacos I don't appreciate it much in games.

[ November 27, 2006, 23:10: Message edited by: Dragonfly ]

 

I was turned off by the major differences at first, namely:

a) story is less character-oriented this time around
b) new battle system

but the story drew me in eventually and I've come to love the new battle system.

Where're you now and at what level Dfly? I've got 2 characters at level 45 with the other 4 at level 33 and have just wrapped up Mount Bur-Omisace and have to find my way to Draklor Laboratories. I'm doing some of my hunts before going there though.

 

I'm still pretty much at the beginning of the game. My characters (just 4 right now) are around level 15 or 16. I was at the Dreadnought Leviathan trying to rescue Ashe and get back Penelo but I couldn't kill the final boss. After about 5 retrys at that I decided I had to go back to an earlier save and buff up my characters a little. So that's where I'm at now.

I wasn't sure about the battle system at first either but I'm used to it now.

 

*sigh* DOesn;t come out here til Feb. Stop teasing me, both of you! I want it now!

 

@Daie

really? why so delayed? where is chibi-land?

I find that if you're fairly well-levelled the bosses are pretty easy to beat. The optional hunts and espers are HARD though!

 

Chibi-land is Britain. It;s not out for ages *cries*

 

I got it just after it came out here and so far I have enjoyed it. The plot actually seems very similar to the first half of Final Fantasy VI (III in North America) so far but it has been told well so that does not really bother me.

The game play has been good but the characters really should have been made more differentiated - I have just finished the Draklor Laboratories and all of my characters have covered off most of the license grid so they are all pretty much the same.

 

Maybe one of you guys can tell me where you get gysha greens? I found a couple when I was fighting chocobas but I was wondering if there is somewhere else that you can get them.

I agree with you about the license board JSBB. It almost seems to easy to get license points so they don't force you to build your characters carefully.

 

You can buy them from the clan merchant in the bazaar or from the shops in the airships. There are not many locations where you can use them so a couple should be enough.

The license board is absurdly easy to get points for. My group currently walks around with my current thief wearing Thief Cuffs, the other two with XP doublers, and the three non-active party members wearing license point doublers. Every time I check I have accumulated another 150 license points for my non-active party members.

I had grand plans about what types of magic, techniques, weapons and armour each character would specialize in - but I quickly discoved that everyone was mastering everything and that the limit on what I could use was really the availability for purchase of the actual spells or items.

 

I looked all through the bazaar and I couldn't find a clan merchant. Is there something that I have to do to open one up? I know I really don't need the greens right now , but now I'm curious.

 

Just in the mines now. Killed by the bounty hunters last night need to level up.

 

@ Dragonfly - I think that the merchant shows up as soon as you are formally admitted to the Clan. That should be after you complete the first hunt and then go visit the Clan headquarters. If you are not a Clan member yet go to the Sandsea Tavern - a guy there gives you the first hunt. The clan merchant is the only merchant you can trade with in the bazaar - which really seems odd to me.

@ Benan - The bounty hunters are supposed to be way too powerful to fight when you are at the mines. You are meant to run away. I find it best to reduce my party to one character (subbing in others one at a time if the runner is taken down) and then run like hell towards the mine entrance.

[ November 27, 2006, 11:49: Message edited by: JSBB ]

 

Is it better than FF: X?

 

I feel your pain. ever since the horror that was X-2. i have wanted a real FF game and now you guys tease me with evil spoilers.

 

I actually liked Final Fantasy X but I would say that XII has been a bit better so far.

The story in XII is definitely stronger than in X, not to mention it having a much more serious tone. There are no goofy romances this time - I imagine that some people would be very happy about that and others would not like it at all so it really depends upon your preferences.

Gameplay wise I would have to say it is fairly even with X. There are some aspects that are better and some that are worse. You will have some really good long fights in XII - the bounty hunting missions in particular tend to be real doozies.

The summons and Mist abilities in XII are good but not overpowered. You can abuse the Mists at first but eventually you will reach the point where they are mostly useful only to finish off powerful foes. I really like how using Mists drains your magic bar down to nothing - it stops you from just blasting out the Mist abilitities at the start of a fight because if you don't win instantly you will really be up a creek without a paddle.

I like the gambit system but the way that the characters will automatically move around in a fight can be frustrating when they inadvertantly move too close to more enemies resulting in you being mobbed. I have found a couple places where the undead spawn so thickly that invariably I end up making jokes about Ashe vs the Army of Darkness.

Still, as I have said before I kind of miss how the characters in X were all different. As of right now all of my characters are virtually identical in abilities. They can all use all of the available spells and techniques, they are all wearing almost indentical armour (all six have the same body armour but only five have the same helmet - only because I have not yet stolen a sixth copy of the helmet that the others are wearing), half of them were using the exact same weapon until I found a couple of better ones yesterday. You basically end up with six completely interchangeable jack of all trades.

 

JSBB, can you tell me where the best place to find ethers is, or what creature you should steal them from? The charge skill in useful but I'd like to have some ethers in stock.

About the merchant in the Bazaar... I've done seven hunts so far and talked to the people in the clan headquarters and I still don't have a merchant who will sell me stuff there. I'll have to check again and see what I've missed doing.

 

The only merchant who I have found so far who sells ethers is in the Necrohol of Nabudis but by the time you are strong enough to make it there you really don't need ethers as you should have lots of MP and the syphon spell. Before that I think I got most of my ethers either from chests or as hunt rewards.

Edit: I checked a couple of websites and they say that the Clan merchant should show up in the bazaar after you talk to Montblanc at the Clan HQ and officially join the Clan. If you have already done this then I don't know why he isn't there. He should be on the east side of the path just south of the Moogle teleport stand.

Edit2: If you don't have any Mist abilities then you should focus on getting some to boost your MP. Each Mist ability gives you another MP bar so if you get all three of a character's Mist abilities then you will have quadruple MP.

[ November 27, 2006, 19:26: Message edited by: JSBB ]

 

I discovered after I made my last post that I had not talked to Montblanc at the clan headquarters and that was the reason that I didn't have that merchant available. I had talked to just about everyone else though. I guess I just forgot to look behind me.

I already have quite a few mists so my magic power isn't too bad. I just had having to rely on my charge skill that sometimes brings it down to zero and it takes a while to get the magic high enough when you need to use a lot of magic.

 

Man JSBB you move FAST

My playing time has stalled and I've just gotten to the phon coast hunter's camp, the one with the teleport crystal.

I agree with most of JSBB's comments too but imo FFX's story was more involving. The only ones really interesting me in this game are Balthier and Vayne Solidor.

I'm also kind of pissed at the lack of species diversity in your party. 5 humes and only 1 viera, pfft. Of all the damn races in the game, they should have done better. I would've LOVED to have a Garif party member. A Bangaa wouldn'tve been a bad idea either.

JSBB, do you do the hunts? What clan rank are you at now? I've got Vaan and Basch at 53 and everyone else at 37 and have obtained 2 story-espers and 1 optional esper. I'm currently a Paragon of Justice and have pwned all (I think) of the Rank I-III marks and probably all of the Rank IV and V as well. Also took down 1 Rank VII mark! woohoo! I gotta say though, since I tend to level a bit, I am crucifying the bosses but the marks and espers are TOUGH!

What has been your highest quickening chain? I've hit an 18 once and 16 a few times. Average is around 9 though it does go lower quite a bit when I'm unlucky..

 

Yeah I do the hunts. I am at the top official clan ranking although the guy hinted that there are additional rankings that he does not know about. I have taken down at least 32 marks including several level VIIs. The only one that I know about but have not done yet is Gilgamesh - I tried him once when my characters were around level 40 and he is absurdly powerful.

I have taken down five espers so far. The only one I had problems with was Exodeus - he wiped me out the first couple times I tried going against him but I levelled a bit and when I went for the rematch it was anti-climacticly easy.

I am currently working on hunting rare monsters for the Phon Coast guys. I have managed to kill around 25 types so far but I think only six or seven of those were trophy ones.

My party is all in the 51-54 range. I think my quickening chains have been pretty similar to yours - I think I have hit 18 once. I would put my average around 10 or 11 - it is quite rare for me to get less than eight now but it did happen one time when I was playing on Tuesday.